Stars aligning on combined Lion, MacBook Air launch in mid-July

Three sources from two separate sites claim to have dates—or general time …

The stars are aligning for a mid-July launch of both Mac OS X Lion and updated MacBook Airs, if the rumor mill is to be believed. Three sources across two different sites seem to have similar information regarding the timing of these announcements—one from 9 to 5 Mac, who claims the two products will launch hand-in-hand in the middle of the month (possibly July 14), while the other two are from Apple'n'Apps, who peg the date as July 19.

According to 9 to 5 Mac's source, the updated MacBook Airs will indeed carry Intel's Sandy Bridge processors, though they will look virtually the same as the current-model MacBook Air. "[A]ccording to a person who has seen the new MacBook Air, exterior changes (if any) were so minute that they were not noticed," the site wrote. The only exception is the apparent replacement of the Mini DisplayPort logo with a Thunderbolt logo on the side of the machine. The new Airs will also allegedly come preloaded with Lion, consistent with previous rumors.

Apple'n'Apps adds to the speculation by claiming that Apple has been throwing around an internal launch date of July 19 for both products. (The caveat is that the date could change at any time.) Again, the site says that the new MacBook Airs will launch with Lion preinstalled, though it also claims that the Lion golden master should be ready by next week: "The MacBook Air will launch with a Golden Master of Lion, and the GM of Lion should be ready around the 4th of July."

The expectation that Apple is waiting for Lion in order to roll out the Sandy Bridge-equipped MacBook Airs is not new—previous rumors had also suggested that Apple wanted to launch them together in order to best showcase both products. Not only is the MacBook Air the least traditional of Apple's notebooks, Lion has a number of features that complement the MacBook Air's so-called "instant-on" abilities, including Auto Save and Auto Resume, making the MacBook Air one of the best ways for Apple to show off the capabilities of its new OS.

On top of all this, Apple is supposedly expecting increased demand for the new MacBook Air starting in July, according to those within the supply chain. Meanwhile, stock of the current MacBook Air models are dwindling at online retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, Macmall, and others. With Apple's third quarter earnings announcement scheduled for July 19, it certainly seems as if things are beginning to converge, and we wouldn't be surprised to see both Lion and updated MacBook Airs appear side-by-side around that time after all.